As Cara and a few others mentioned in the comment section of the previous post, it is indeed very troubling that Unifor is in effect openly declaring war on Andrew Scheer and the CPC.

We all know that journalists have their biases. Some are very upfront about them and others attempt to keep them quiet – especially if they are reporters as opposed to opinion writers.

But when their union calls for this level of confrontation in an election year, you know where the dues are going —> anti-Conservative attack ads. How will that affect each member’s work?

And to add insult to injury you can expect to see some kind of corporate welfare initiative for Canadian media in the upcoming Federal fall economic update (in addition to the $50 million over five years announced in last winter’s budget.)

How can journalists remain independent when they’re the beneficiaries of government handouts? Can they really be trusted to scrutinize the politicians who fund them? Will they remain unbiased if other politicians threaten to end their funding?

Journos like David Akin are doing their best to deflect their union’s stronghold, but what will the pressure be like on such outliers? Will they be able to resist The Resistance?

112 Responses to Monitoring the Media Party

I read somewhere recently that up to 50% of all journalists in Canada are directly employed by CBC, which actively supports the liberal party and were given over $200 million by Trudeau. It’s actually quite scary. There is little difference between the old Soviet system and Canadian journalism, and the difference is shrinking as you note that their union is actively acting against 1 party.

If there’s one thing that the public dislikes more than arrogant, elitist governments it’s smarmy media trying to pull one over on them.
We have to hope that Canadians see clearly that the media (not all, but most) are manipulating them.

I think most journalists try to be professional and while we all have biases, I find if you are a Red Tory like me, the media is generally pretty fair, but if further to the right than much less so. I am glad we are not like the US where the media is blatantly partisan. CNN and MSNBC are Democrat mouthpieces while Fox News is a Trump/GOP mouthpiece.

In terms of union endorsements, I actually think that matters less than some think. I know many people who are union members and was even one when I worked for a summer job at a grocery store back during my university days. And I can see while the union top brass is very left wing in its politics, its membership actually tends to be not that much different than the general public. There are lots of union members who vote Tory. Heck even in the last election, Trump made big gains amongst union members even though pretty much every union endorsed Clinton. And in the UK, support for the Tories amongst union members is not much different than the non-union population unlike say 30 years ago and on Brexit most union members voted leave even though most unions endorsed remain. So I would only be worried if polling starts to show membership in general falls in line with their leadership and I’ve generally found that is not the case.

Well, journalism is a profession that has taken itself down a few pegs dealing in the realm of politics. We get far too much opinion laced in and nowhere is that more obvious than right here with our own CBC which operates on our dime.
Recall “Wafergate” as an example of disgusting” journalism” and how long that went on.

I give it to Trump for calling them out, our politicians need to start firing back as well. Respect begets respect.

I want Scheer to get talking about what matters and not be taken off message with media playing their games of trickery, don’t take their bait. Take a page from Trump in a more refined manner.
We need that pipeline free of foreign involvement and interference. Let the Liberals dispute that and explain why it shouldn’t happen. I don’t like the direction this Trudeau cabal is taking this country across the board. Another four years of it will be disaster. A person elected leader of a country as per our system is not doing a stage play, being scripted and prompted. I have no confidence in the present leadership, I do not feel safe and secure.

The Environment Minister can talk about putting a price on pollution. They refuse to use the dirty word it really is, a tax with GST added on but will not discuss dumping poop into the Ottawa and St Lawrence rivers.
Canada is not a big polluter, our PM admires how China can turn it’s economy around on a dime. It’s one of the biggest polluters on the planet. Coal and more coal while we shut down ours and pay a big price on everything we need to survive.
Where do we go from here?

We have the media party and the union party…both interfering in our democratic process. It’s like a hostile takeover of our right to choose without interference who we wish to govern.
How close are we coming to communistic like rule?
This needs to be addressed pronto even if it means blunt talk, tell it as it is presenting and forcefully.
It has to stop. Trump knows that and a lot more people are following him for it. The Left have powerful backers, money to toss around. We will have more of the rats from the US interfering here, Trump will not put up with them. We know it, politicians know it and are wimping out. What are they afraid of?

If it were just one issue that was twisted beyond recognition it might be funny, but almost everything coming out of the PC convention was torqued by the liberal left, and media party.

Another issue was the headlines (from the left) that read that the PC voted against gender identity etc. in any way, shape or form.

Not true. The motion to wipe that reference form the education curriculum was via a motion introduced by Tanya Granic-Allen.
PC members at the convention voted to put it up for debate at their next meeting.
The PC PAC rejected the motion, but a general vote kept it alive until the next convention – late spring.
The motion is non-binding on the government, and the new PC sex ed. curriculum is likely to be rolled out BEFORE that next convention. You see where this is going right?

This morning our friends (and I use that term loosely) at Nation Newswatch are doing what they do best. Sowing seeds of discontent between Scheer and Ford.

Oh and before we hear the usual about the latest poll numbers – Trudeau numbers increased last week – Scheer steady, remember it was a constit. week and Trudeau’s numbers are up because was out of the country on a schmooze-fest.

Next up, as Joanne eludes to in her new post, an economic statement which will set the tone for the campaign……and true to form the LIberals will continue to shower our own money at us and be pulled right along by the media in this country.

No one will out selfie Trudeau. When it comes to charisma, like beauty, it’s in the eye of the beholder IMO, Trudeau would never turn my crank in that department. When it comes to the serious business of heading up a government we need to look beyond the superficial.

Isn’t it funny how that term “charisma” gets knocked around by Kinsella and other “experts”? Just because a pundit suggests Trudeau is charismatic doesn’t mean it’s so.
I see smarmy. I see entitled. I see spoiled rich kid. Charisma? No. Did the young lady who was groped by Trudeau think he was charismatic. Because he hugs and kisses EVERYONE, doesn’t make him charismatic. I think the description around his being charismatic speaks more shallowly to his appearance more than his characteristics or mannerisms.

Here is the non-paywalled http://warrenkinsella.com/2018/11/how-andrew-scheer-can-win-the-next-election-youre-welcome/ . One think I like about Warren Kinsella is he seems to be one of the few bloggers left who is objective and fair to both seems, not insulting and demeaning to the other. I think what he says about Scheer being different is bang on. When people want change they don’t vote for a slightly different version. That is Trudeau not Mulcair is PM, that is why Notley (although not far much longer) not Jean won in Alberta, that is why Ford not Horwath is premier of Ontario.

I did read the article when Kinsella posted it on his website. Isn’t interesting that we’re hanging on Kinsella’s definitions and suggestion that Scheer essentially do exactly as he’s been doing, connect with the every man, own who you are NOT someone else’s version, as if it was something new and earth-shattering. Many here have been suggesting that for a while now. They’re not Kinsella, who we know, when the time comes he’s NOT going to support, champion or vote for Scheer but will line up with the other Liberals to do what they do best – vilify him.

Also a lot of outrage claiming Ford has attacked Francophones. While perhaps being a tricky file not handled the best, I think there is an overreaction. The French university in Toronto is just in the plans, does not exist yet and three English speaking universities in the GTA also cancelled too. Besides Toronto has a very small French speaking community so Ottawa if anything would seem a more logical place to put it. For the language commissioner, they are merging it with the ombudsman and so as long as it is as effective at protecting language rights, what is the problem if it saves money. Melanie Joly has promised to go after Ontario on this, but probably more about trying to stop a Tory breakthrough in Quebec.

Admittedly Scheer is in a tough place, but he can easily say he doesn’t agree with the changes, but that the federal government doesn’t have the power to intervene in provincial budget decisions, only the courts can overrule if it violates the constitution (which I am not sure it does as university lets remember doesn’t exist and the French language commission was only created in 2013). Still I think the next year is going to get ugly. The left is certainly getting nasty and I think it will be important to not fall into their trap, but explain in a calm and cool manner what is going on and hope the swing voters will see the left as desperate.

Of course this is made to order for playing the politics of division with the Liberals vying for votes in Quebec. Scheer needs to stay out of it, it’s education, a provincial matter but the media will use this anywhere they can. It’s an economic issue, we do not have the funds, case closed.

I am sort of torn on this. Economically it makes a lot of sense and with the large deficit, I don’t think any group should be exempt completely, everyone is going to have to make sacrifices and once you give one group an exemption every other group will argue why they should too.

By the same token I remember the national unity crisis we had in the 90s and don’t want to see that re-emerge. I also do think this could hurt Scheer’s chances in Quebec, mind you I suspect the Liberals would have then gone after the New Brunswick government instead where the PCs rely on the People’s Alliance to prop them up who are against bilingualism. Hopefully Scheer can explain with the Quebec media whether he agrees or disagrees, provinces have the right to make what choices they want. Also Harper never touched bilingualism in funding while prime-minister so he can point out that federally past Conservative governments have not touched it and that is where people should look as opposed to provincial who face different circumstances.

It was Scheer himself, very quickly after this broke who did raise concern about this way before the media or Joli did.
Ford was also very quick to remind people, including the Quebec Premier that unlike him, Ford was left with a province in huge debt and we simply can’t afford to keep the promises made by the Wynne Liberals using money they never had.

Ford needs to publicly ask Madam Wynne where she was going to find the money she promised to build and support a French University in this province. Most reasonable people….hopefully the majority…realize it is not a necessity. The French are well served in this province as opposed to the English in Quebec but we can be sure the Liberals and media will milk it endlessly. I’m sick of it already.

Let’s hope Ford explains it well in plain language, we cannot afford something that isn’t for the common good when the Wynne government left such huge debt.

“I’m sick of it already”…best comment, I am too. I’m really sick of the gender identity too. Do they not realize that it doesn’t matter if two men live together, two women, or men and women, no one is talking about that. The issue is there are two sexes, male and female, nothing about who chooses to be with who.

We don’t hear the word “fracking” spoken much anymore so I’m going to say frack it all and frack this snow that keeps falling in these parts…too early for my liking .Also frack the postal union for having no concern for the people served by their members.

Ford did explain things well. A few times. That money to pay for the new universities was money they didn’t have from the proposed carbon tax. Remember? The tax that was supposedly going to go to save us all from climate change 🙂

We haven’t heard much from Climate Barbie of late, that may be a good thing. She may be updating her vocabulary, she needs some new phrases to explain the carbon tax. Her invention of “price on carbon” doesn’t cut it, when governments put a price on something it’s still a tax….plus GST.

Actually she just tweeted out a condemnation on Ford’s language changes, so I am guessing losing her argument she feels she has to attack elsewhere. I normally wouldn’t vote NDP, but since unfortunately in her riding the Tories are very weak and stance no chance (they can win in suburban Ottawa, but like any city central different story), I would consider strategically voting NDP if I lived in her riding just to get rid of her. It’s not so much I disagree with her views, its rather her arrogant attitude where it seems she talks down to those who don’t agree with her rather than respectfully disagreeing with different viewpoints.

On the French university, I think it makes more sense to expand Glendon college of York University which is already fully bilingual. Of the bilingual universities, all are under utilized. Still I know amongst Francophones this is a very sensitive topic so while I don’t think it will hurt Ford too much, my bigger worry is it hurts Scheer in Quebec where the media is making a big stink about it. It will probably cost the PCs Glengarry-Prescott-Russell which is majority Francophone, but that is one riding so not going to change the overall map. Then again maybe it won’t after all, Mike Harris held Ottawa-Orleans in 1999 even after the whole controversy of closing Montfort Hospital.

As for combining agencies, this is a case where quality over quantity matters. If it leads to a decline in services that is a bad thing, but if services are unaffected that is a good thing. We want to encourage efficiencies, after all that is what Ford ran on.

Ford needs to explain, explain, explain and call the media and opposition every time they spread false information. There will be some who will not listen but responsible people will.
The French language is well served in Ontario, for some that isn’t enough, never will be but it is what the Liberals will jump on, facts will never get in their way, they are desperate. Dragging it into the Federal domain is an example of their desperation.
It’s still being reported on MSM outlets Ford is cutting French language services….lies and damned lies apply here.

They all make me sick, it’s overkill at it’s worst. Apparently they have no concept of cost and budgets don’t enter their minds with their demands. Wynne was broke and still promising to spend billions more now as expected the PC’s are taking the flak for being responsible.
Fake news abounds.

That is kind of why I rather they just bundled this in with all the cuts which will come in the spring. There will be so many groups howling and screaming about the cuts and no one will be able to claim they are being singled out. Also on language rights, the Charter states under section 23 education must be available in both official languages but that is only K-12 which Ontario like all other provinces does. When it comes to mandating official bilingualism, only New Brunswick under the Charter is obligated to be bilingual, no other provinces is. Ontario is not officially bilingual, rather than the French Language Services Act requires bilingualism in 25 designated areas, not province wide. The rule states anywhere that Francophones exceed either 10% or 5,000 must be bilingual so Ottawa off course is. In the GTA, Toronto, Mississauga, and Brampton go above the 5,000 rule, but the whole Durham region, York region, and Halton region are unilingual. You will notice on the QEW signs are bilingual when heading westward but as soon as you cross the Mississauga/Oakville line they switch to English only. So unless what Ford has done violates federal law (which I don’t think it does), the feds should butt out, but since it is an election and the Liberals know if Scheer breaks through in Quebec they are done, they are making a stink about this issue to kill any chances of a Tory breakthrough in Quebec.

Just as well. It was a 20 minute most under enthusiastic or encouraging economic statement delivered in what I can only describe as a tone akin to Mr. Rogers.
It adds to our debt., has no plan for the budget to balance itself, and relies heavily on the same “middle class” fall back campaign slogan from the last election.

Whether journalists are biased or not, and I think most try to do a good job professionally and any bias is subconscious not deliberate, this does not help the profession at all. I am glad see David Akin in his tweets being very critical of Unifor campaigning against the Tories arguing it hurts his integrity as a journalist. Jerry Dias has always struck me as a bully who is more about pushing his agenda and doesn’t care about the impacts. Still very much has the attitude unions had 100 years ago before modern labour laws when militancy made some sense.

Although they deny it, the CBC is definitely left leaning. Interesting ratings found here:https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/leftcenter/
“These media sources have a slight to moderate liberal bias. They often publish factual information that utilizes loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by using appeal to emotion or stereotypes) to favor liberal causes. These sources are generally trustworthy for information, but may require further investigation.”

Regardless of the CBC’s leaning, I find it unrealistic by Conservatives to rant & rave about shutting it down. Generous funding is another matter, though. And now extending funding (through tax breaks or incentives) to other media outlets, details to come from a supposedly “independent” panel, is suspicious, despite the assurances that struggling media would continue to be highly “professional” and impartial in its coverage. Remember the questions raised when Sun News was planning to set up shop? Its impartiality & supposed closeness to the Conservatives was questioned, even by “impartial” Canadian luminaries like Don Newman & Margaret Atwood.https://www.ctvnews.ca/sun-tv-news-launches-controversially-canadian-channel-1.632814

I wonder if the CBC would support giving up part of its own funding to give it to some of those struggling media companies.

I don’t think CBC should be shut down however I do think that governments should get out of the business of funding media period. In doing so it lends to the very bias government’s suggest aren’t healthy.

We can’t afford to level the playing field either and top up to the level of CBC.

If you watched QP yesterday, I believe the opposition drew a very interesting timeline on how this particular bit of the economic statement saw the light of day. I’ll try to find it for you but that in context leads me to believe that something other than fairness was at play.

The question raised yesterday is here. Pierre P. also asked a similar question but to me this is just a little too convenient for the Liberals. When you factor in the timeline I think there’s something at play here that benefits the LIberals and left.

I think the Conservatives need to speak against this and raise the yellow flag.

From Hansard:
“Hon. Michelle Rempel (Calgary Nose Hill, CPC):
Mr. Speaker, on November 14, Jerry Dias of Unifor, which represents thousands of journalists, called the $50 million media bailout in budget 2018 “nickels and dimes”. On the same day, he announced Unifor’s formal campaign against the Conservatives. On November 16, the media reported that an increased media bailout would be announced, and on November 21, $600 million was announced.
The finance minister just said it was insulting to think that journalists could be bought. What about Jerry Dias?”

Maybe I should have made it plainly obvious that much of my comment was intended to be sarcastic — particularly the part about the CBC’s willingness to hand over some of their funding to struggling media outlets.

IMO, the government should not fund struggling media outlets because as has been pointed out by others, the media receiving that funding would potentially be in a conflict of interest, reticent to bite the hand that feeds it. How could they realistically hold the government to account, “speaking truth to power” as they so often claim is their mission, if they depend on government handouts for their very survival?

That being said, the CBC has been a part of Canadians’ life since it was founded back in 1936 with the support of both the Liberals & Conservatives when they were in government. The Royal Commission established by the Liberals under Mackenzie King “specifically recommended abolishing privately owned stations”!!! Even back then, some people wanted to shut out other voices. Anyway, getting rid of the CBC, as is often argued by various commenters on another blog I visit regularly, is unrealistic, IMO. As a matter of fact, those commenters hold it against Stephen Harper for having failed to do so during his majority mandate!

But would defunding the CBC entirely be acceptable to a majority of Canadians? I doubt it. Personally, I would favour reducing the CBC’s funding & setting up a system similar to the American PBS model, limiting donations made by charitable foundations and individuals, with caps on how much could be donated, so that no one has disproportionate influence on what is broadcast.

As part of Canadian heritage the CBC should be respected but I’m not a proponent of just because it’s always been done this way we should continue doing it.
If the CBC can’t compete with the market share then let the people decide and as you suggest make CBC similar to the PBS model. That would be worth a try IMO.

ODSP changes were brought about today in Ontario and actually it seems a lot on disability are quite happy with the changes as it lets one earn up to $6,000 without clawbacks. This helps show that with the tough changes ahead, the Ford government is still compassionate for the most vulnerable.

Also Amanda Simard has criticized Ford’s cuts on the French language services and her riding, Glengarry-Prescott-Russell is 60% Francophone. Even if I don’t agree with her views, I think it is good we let MPPs represent their constituents, that is what an MPP is for, not to tow the party line.

1. Subsidizing private companies just causes them to be more inefficient as they have no incentive to find ways to become more profitable so bailouts should only be done in extreme cases in which letting them go under would cause severe economic hardship such as the auto bailout under Harper. Clearly the media bailout doesn’t meet this threshold.

2. Whether the journalists will be more favourable to the Liberals or not is really irrelevant, the media shouldn’t even have an apparent conflict of interest and this just reduces the trust in them and makes it appear they will not be impartial whether true or not.

3. We no longer trust the Trudeau Liberal government to be fair OR accountable. They’ve proven time and again that they’re in this for their own partisan purpose. Even the set up of this new bailout with an overseeing “independent” committee to make decisions. How many times have we heard that only for the Liberals to stack the committee with their own? Or their supporters.

It’s an outrage plain and simple. This action by the government takes away any hope of unbiased reporting and we need to treat it that way. It really stacks the deck nicely for Shiny and his troupe. Suffice to say…what else is new, we’re already there, this will just ice the cake.

Good news is with the internet, there is lots of alternative reporting and that is cheap, effective, and unless Trudeau tries to make Canada a dictatorship, that will be impossible to do. Ontario Proud is already promising to make life miserable for Trudeau and they did a great job of taking down Kathleen Wynne.

Ford has just made some changes in regards to the French language changes that upset Francophones. Commissioner will stay, but be under the auspicies of the Ombudsman. Caroline Mulroney becomes minister for Francophone affairs while remaining Attorney General and he hires an advisor for Francophone affairs. Seems like a fair compromise. The university was probably the biggest item, but no reason the feds who don’t seem to care about the deficit cannot step in and fund it or Quebec who has a healthy surplus. Scheer also stated he was against the changes and I think considering how badly these were received in the Quebec media that was the right call.

Coyne and all journalists may be realizing they will be under more scrutiny. People will be going over what they put out with more skepticism, they won’t so easily get away with manipulating facts to suit a particular agenda. If they lose credibility they may as well hang it up.

That new NAFTA deal we were supposed to have…time for the PM to resign…
General Motors will soon be announcing that it is closing all operations in Oshawa, affecting approximately 2,500 jobs, sources tell CTV News Toronto.

Every governing party has been guilty of bending to appease big Auto.
But one cant deny that the investment era in Canada is failing miserably under Trudeau and Morneau.
They are driving this train wreck now.
High taxes a looming Carbon tax and tariffs.
I fear for Canada under these two fools.
Pity Canada

Rather than going to Brazil for that photo op I think that Trudeau’s time is best spent at home, AND, he should refuse to sign that deal with the US and Mexico until the steel tariffs are removed. I bet this is a HUGE part of GM’s decision.

Scheer needs to get out in front of this, which he was yesterday but the media have conveniently overlooked that fact in favour of hits from the PM and Premier, who are presenting a united front in the GM matter. This is not a time for Scheer to hold back or to be cautious in his language. Watching QP, Scheer was absent. There’s clearly no shortage of issues now pressing on the Liberals, so the trick IMO is that the Conservatives have to continue to press equally on all of them.

At 6:00am this morning Andrew Scheer was at GM in Oshawa meeting the workers as they arrived for their shift. Very smart move by Scheer IMO and likely more appreciated than the usual pap delivered by a PM that is all about words, not action.

Is Maurice Strong’s dream to shut down industrialized nations already in progress? It seems to me shutting down plants like GM will certainly have a huge ripple effect affecting many more businesses and tank the economy faster than Morneau and the Trudeau cabal can think.
Wondering also what does it take for them to decide we have a budding crisis on our hands with Alberta and now Ontario going on the skids?

One thing I have noticed about the whole GM issue, is how different it’s being reported on and covered in the USA vs. Canada. Watching the American networks, specifically Detroit and their coverage is hopeful and uses words to the effect that GM is “idling” their plants there. The Americans also share that this is NOT a done deal.

Robert Benzie of the Toronto Star is claiming the Ontario PCs are worried about a few MPPs defecting to the Liberals. While you never know when someone will defect, my guess is there are maybe some who are a bit unhappy but actually defecting is a bit of stretch. That being said its quite possible a few have threatened to, but I suspect members in any party threatening to defect happens more often than we realize and most are empty threats as its a way to get the leadership to listen up as when you threaten to quit the party they are more likely to take your concerns seriously. Still if what I’ve heard about Doug Ford’s chief of staff Dean French is true, they should fire him and get someone who has a better relationship with MPPs. But again I think it is important to be cautious in assuming what is printed about the Ford administration is actually true, especially from the Toronto Star who has made it clear they don’t support the government. I don’t think for reputational purposes the media will deliberately lie, but whenever they say anonymous sources, that just means that someone who they talked to thinks this, not that it will actually happen. There are all kinds of rumours all the time floating around Queens Park and Parliament Hill and many times they end up being nothing, but sometimes turn out to be right.

On the GM plant closure, there are many factors and so while I won’t solely blame Trudeau and/or Wynne, I don’t think their policies helped, but obviously there were many factors. Having an anti-business government never helps, but having a pro-business one improves the investment climate but still doesn’t guarantee economic success as ultimately firms make their decisions to invest or not based on market demand which consumers not the government drive. I think to determine whether Trudeau’s policies or helping or not, you have to look at the big picture overall, not one individual business decision. Since foreign investment is down, I would say Trudeau is not helping, but the strong economy is in many ways masking some of the dangers of his policies. Also firms tend to think long term so having a hostile government tends to take time before the impacts are fully seen as many will just try to ride out the storm and its only if such government is in power for a very long time do you see the full effects.

1) no defection. Simard quit the party and will sit as an independent. SQUIRREL! Diversions for the media who are just salivating at the prospects of sticking it to Ford….again. Among ALL of the other great things that should be the focus today the media and left will give this legs for a few days. Even the Trudeau Liberals are in on it.

2) GM made a business decision. Those in the auto sector who have been paying attention were not surprised by this announcement. Planning for the future is NOT something this Trudeau government has proven to be effective at. IMO our oil crisis is FAR more devastating a blow to us, but that Trudeau’s at the helm of this country and seems to be unable to, with confidence show those leadership skills that by enacting a plan and letting Canadians know what it is falls squarely on Trudeau. Not to mention that under his government it is true that we’re not an attractive place to invest any more. Doesn’t matter that the economy according to “the budget will balance itself” Trudeau appears to be on an up tick – if it’s using Liberal math I have my doubts about that too. Also, why is it that even with Canada’s economy doing so well apparently that Canadians feel worse off?

Since GM is also closing plants in the US too, I think Wynne and Trudeau’s policies were unhelpful but probably just sped up the inevitable. The reality is manufacturing is declining in just about all developed countries as it is cheaper to produce in developing countries. The only developed country this isn’t happening in is Germany and that is only because the German economy is much stronger than most of the Eurozone so the Euro is undervalued relative to the German economy so it is due to exchange rate it has been able to thrive. If we had an artificially low dollar, would be the same for us, off course this would cause many other problems. Never mind if Germany still used the Mark, I suspect their manufacturing would be in similar trouble or if the Euro excluded the Mediterranean countries same story as well.

On Simard, actually Toronto Star report claimed 7 PC MPPs were at risk of defecting, but again I suspect this is more gossip. Probably some unhappy MPP or staffer told the Star this anonymously in the hopes this would scare the Ford administration to change tactics is my guess. Rumours like this happen quite often and 90% of the time never materialize, but 10% of the time do. That being said everything I’ve heard about Ford’s chief of staff Dean French makes it quite believable many are unhappy. He should be sacked. My view is you always get people around you that compliment you by being strong in the areas you are weak whereas Dean French has all the weaknesses Doug Ford does thus just amplifying them. This is not just for politics, it is the same in the business community too. Boards made up of people that have strengths in areas where another is weak tend to be more successful than ones where the weakness is held by all executive members.

All this drama over Ford being honest and cancelling the French University in Toronto is running into overkill. We cannot afford it at this time and that’s what he should have said, left it up in the air like the Liberals. They promised it for years but somehow never got around to building it. Now the Federal leaders are sticking their oars in, going to bat for the French , patronizing politics at its most obvious.
I say ignore it, we cannot afford it and the French are well served in Ontario. We can send our kids to french schools in both school systems. It’s opening another round of French/English animosity.
For me it’s, sorry, but it’s puke inducing, even more so when Quebec Premier stuck in his two cents worth as well.

I think the scrapping the French language commissioner was actually the bigger outrage and I believe the savings were minimal there. On the French university, agree it was probably unrealistic at least at the moment. If anything if we are going to build one, I would think Ottawa would seem like a better location than Toronto as Ottawa has a much larger Francophone community. Still my understanding from Caroline Mulroney’s letter to the National Post is the French university is simply postponed until the province’s finances are in better shape, not indefinitely. Also there is nothing stopping the federal government from stepping in and paying the full cost, Ford simply said the provincial government won’t fund it, not it won’t be allowed to proceed if it can find alternative funding.

“The federal ethics commissioner began an inquiry last May after two opposition MPs expressed concerns that Grewal might have been in a conflict of interest when he invited a construction executive — who was paying Grewal for legal services at the time — to official events with Trudeau during the prime minister’s trip to India this year.”
Is it conceivable that the PMO knew NOTHING of this? Since last May? Then in Sept. this MP was removed from a committee looking into money laundering. Who has the authority to remove MPs from committees exactly?

What are others thoughts on Maxime Bernier’s People’s Party? He is only polling at 1-4% which is not that much although could make a difference in a tight election. The party has 30,000+ members and seems to draw large crowds, but I am skeptical how far it will go. I actually think Bernier may inadvertently help Scheer is he will move the Overton window thus making Scheer look fairly moderate compared to him. While I agree with some of his policies, I feel he is way too ideological and I am glad he didn’t win the Conservative leadership as I am convinced if he did, we would have lost seats and probably been so badly damaged that 2027 would be the earliest we could form government. At least with Scheer there is a good chance we will gain seats and if we form government great and if not at least we will be in a good position to do so in 2023. I don’t think libertarianism has ever had the widespread appeal it does south of the border in Canada. People may not be keen on a big government tax and spend liberal like Trudeau, but I don’t think they want to smash it into pieces. I think they want to eliminate waste and excess (that is what Ford ran on as opposed to Hudak who ran on a slash and burn), but still protect core programs.

Note for those saying I am too pessimistic on our chances, this has less to do with polls and more history. While the length a party is in power, varies, generally speaking one term governments are pretty rare in Canada, just as usually once a party has been in power over a decade (hope Trudeau doesn’t last this long) their chances of re-election are low too. Also Ontario has a long history of alteration so I think if heaven forbid Wynne was re-elected or Howarth had won, Scheer would be the favourite, but with Ford not so. I believe last year there was a blog on balance and so it seems usually you tend to have the right dominating at one level and the left at the other to balance things out. At the beginning of the year we lacked this balance whereas now 5 out of 10 provinces representing 70% of the population and likely soon to be 6 representing over 80% of the population will have centre-right governments thus the balance of right wing in most provinces, left wing federally. I still think Trudeau can be beat in 2019, I just think it will be an uphill battle, but not impossible either.

I don’t think about Bernier or his party at all. I think about beating Trudeau.
Any diversions IMO blunt that focus.
Pessimistic? You Miles? Nah, just still hanging to traditional means by which to measure new political paths being carved that don’t abide by rules, polls or populism.

Ford should know it’s not what you do but how you do it when it comes to hot button issues like French language, even Wynne had the gall to spout off about it, she who did squat on her promised French university for fifteen years.
Anything to do with cutting French language services in this country ignites an always smoldering tinderbox. The Liberals are ever ready to pounce on anything to divert attention from them and their dirty work.
I really am concerned for where we are heading socially and economically. IMO we are heading into a quagmire.
On top of it all, come January, we will be paying a carbon tax plus GST on everything we need to survive in this gold white north. It’s a freaking mess.

The more one digs down into the plans Ford had for Franophone services in Ontario the more sensible they are IMO.
Did you know that we already HAVE three Universities in Ontario that offer equivalent French language educations? Just read an article in the NP in which spokespeople for these three Universities are rather insulted by the fuss made over a stand alone French University in Ontario.
In practical terms there is just not enough demand FOR a stand alone French university in Ontario.
Why did THAT never enter into the rants raised by the left or their media friendlies?
Because it’s WAY too easy to crap all over the conservative plan, no matter who the architects are.

No kidding Greg. The whole French issue is one that the left pounced on and will ride for as long as they can to score their own partisan points.
That the promise of French University is one that’s over 40 years old never enters into the picture. Because it’s Doug Ford provides new fodder for the Trudeau government and Left Leaning Media (LLM) who are only too happy to oblige and join in along side the guy who’s promised them $$$$.

If that Waterloo company is the one I think you are talking about, I can see it from my office window. Not a lot of companies do what they do, it’s a shame they are too tied into Oshawa. There are other facilities that can take on the rest of what they do.

George HW Bush passed away last night. He was a good president and certainly relations between Canada and the US were strong then. In fact Brian Mulroney will be one of the speakers at the funeral which makes sense as the two got along quite well. He was the last Republican president I actually liked. His son I didn’t care for after the huge debacle in Iraq although would still take George W. Bush over Trump any day. To be fair I liked McCain and Romney, but neither won.

Other news, Justin Trudeau makes a stupid comment on male construction workers and how female entrepreneurs are better and how everything needs to be looked at through a gender lens. I believe gender equality is important, I think we all agree, but I think Trudeau is way too obsessed on this and doesn’t understand there is a time and place for it, but not all the time everywhere. In addition when it comes to entrepreneurs, I think it depends on the individual not gender, there are some fine female and male ones and some lousy ones. In fact the market not the government generally does a good job at determining who those are. Interestingly enough the last gender focused budget did not give him a bounce in the polls amongst females, but did cause his support to fall amongst males. As Jordan Peterson would say, Trudeau is so predictable. He seems to do exactly what you would expect from someone involved in some of the social sciences or humanities at university, not someone with real world experience.

Different topic but another example of how the left will twist things. THIS time Harper catches the untruth

“Stephen Harper
‏Verified account @stephenharper

Stephen Harper Retweeted Ottawa Citizen

This story is false and should be corrected. I have indicated no objection to the release of any document relevant to the Norman case. This is a transparent effort to deflect attention from the current government.

Why are we not hearing more about the illegal immigrants flooding into this country and bringing in their relatives right after? The Liberals have replaced the word “illegal” with “irregulars” as if that makes any difference. Who are they and how will this influx of people going to contribute to the country?

Because the Liberals, the left and their media are doing everything to distract and make this a soft landing for Trudeau. What they want to talk about instead is the faux Francophone fight with Doug Ford or how because Trudeau signed the UN document on immigrants everything is just fine.

Trudeau is on the wrong side of public opinion on this one, which is fine by me right now because going into an election it works better for the Conservatives.

Hope so Cara. The media were taking great glee protesting so called French language cuts. I think it will backfire, most know it’s bogus, number one they are well served and two we cannot afford the university, we can’t afford any university let alone one to serve one linguistic group. Where will it end?

People have to be boiling over the media buyout by Trudeau and company…”trusted’ media of course, we all know what that means, dead giveaway.
There has to be a conflict there. What does it do to free press when the government tosses that stupendous amount into their laps?

Right Liz. The Liberals have made a mess of the immigration file. We now seem to be rewarding coming here illegally, ignore real (not imagined) security threats, and have no economic focus to managing the illegals once they’re in the country. That spawns eventual resentment by the public AND also those immigrants looking to come here legally.

Instead what we get for our concern is a government that calls concerns bigotry, or blames the public for just not seeing it the way the Trudeau government sees things.

Hey but calling names and using the media to question legitimate concern speaks to the lengths at which the left will go to draw attention away from the real issue at hand.

Has anyone noticed how often Trump calls our PM by his first name? He’s treating him like a kid. Can’t recall him calling any other world leaders by their first names. That’s a put down IMO. Trudeau and his cabal probably think he’s just being friendly or opt to ignore it.

Don’t worry Liz. It looks like the PMO has scooped up one of Kathleen Wynne’s former staffers.
Trudeaus has hired her as his “new special assistant for Canada-U.S. relations team.” (Hill Times).
More of our money down the drain. I guess we can no longer depend on Justin’s sunny ways 🙂

We need to be very concerned about Alberta, the Trudeau cabal are doing everything they can to ensure that province is shut down. The bogus reason is environment, environment, environment, that’s their reason for everything except dumping raw sewage/excrement into our rivers and oceans.
We need to smarten up, if not we have to believe there are no smart people left to save us. It’s the Maurice Strong Doctrine in full force.
Next election is going to be one of our most important ever, another term of this band of incompetents and we are not going to recognize this country or life as we have known it. It may sound over the top but that’s how I’m seeing it.